


Star Trek: DS9, Season 2, Episode 7, Rules of Acquisition

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s02e07 Rules of Acquisition, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 02, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.





	Star Trek: DS9, Season 2, Episode 7, Rules of Acquisition

Open to Morn sleeping on a couch in the promenade. Waking him, Odo orders him to go home. Before doing so, Morn tries to stop at Quark’s but finds it closed.

Inside, Jadzia is playing tonga with Quark, Rom, and several other Ferengi. Rom’s characterisation hasn’t been fully settled, and so, this scene has him being sexist and misogynistic.

One of the Ferengi is a vested waiter named Pel. Pel keeps bugging Rom, and finally, Quark gets so irritated he’s willing to humour Pel. This turns out to be a good idea due to the fact Pel is a cunning profiteer who’s willing to share lucrative ideas with Quark.

As much as I like this story, I think it would have been better if Pel had been a clear background character in previous episodes. There’s nothing to say Pel wasn’t a background character, but if so, there was absolutely no special attention paid, and I think this was the mistake.

Pel and Quark immediately hit it off. This causes jealous confusion in Rom and amused fondness in Jadzia.

Then, Zex facetimes Quark to appoint him chief negotiator for when the Fergengi make their presence known to the Gamma Quadrant.

The next scene has Zek and his servant in Sisko’s office. Kira can barely contain her disgust.

It’s established Zek is holding a business conference on the station, and both Sisko and Kira are worried about the species from the Gamma Quadrant being taken advantage of. Zek makes his attraction to Kira known, and though she’d never, ever even consider him as a romantic partner, there is a brief moment when he promises to give the Bajorians something Bajor desperately needs that she does start to reconsider her opinion of him. Of course, he ruins it by still trying to get profit out the exchange despite what he originally said.

Sisko, however, strong-arms Zek into giving the Bajorians what they need as a gift.

In Zek’s quarters, he explains his plan to get a certain type of berries and go into the wine business to Quark.

The next scene has Quark and Rom talking in the bar. In the background, listening in, Pel is serving customers. Coming over to refill the tray, Pel warns him against implicitly trusting Zek. Quark asks what Pel means.

Pel explains, if all goes well, Zek’s a hero. If it doesn’t, he can blame Quark for the screw up.

This leads to Quark hiring Pel as his consultant.

Rom is displeased.

Later, in Pel’s quarters, Pel takes off a pair of fake ears, and then, the vest to reveal breasts.

I wonder if Pel’s voice is dubbed at certain points or if Helene Udy altered her own voice. There’s a difference between when Pel talks to people who don’t know her gender vs. when she talks to people who do, but it’s not radically different. Until the reveal, I never thought Pel was anything but male.

The next scene has Sisko, Kira, Quark, Zek, and Zek’s servant waiting for the species’ arrival. Kira almost gets violent when Zek squeezes her bottom.

When the species shows up, they’re revealed to be slightly violent.

Next, Quark and Pel are trying to negotiate with the species, and this scene does a good job fleshing out Pel’s character. Quark is visibly scared of the species, but despite being visibly nervous, Pel refuses to let either herself or Quark be bullied. I have no doubt she could have swooped in and potentially handled everything herself, but out of loyalty to Quark, she doesn’t. She tells them either they’ll deal with him or there will be no deal at all.

Meanwhile, Zek’s servant delivers a present to Kira. This leads to Kira and Jadzia talking about the Ferengi. Kira correctly calls labels them as greedy, misogynistic trolls, and Jadzia takes the attitude, once a person accepts such facts, the Ferengi can be fun to hang out with.

Later, she’s having such fun. Zek tries to cheat at tonga, and she refuses to let him. He orders Quark to ask for even more berries during negotiations tomorrow, and speaking up, Pel makes Quark look good in front of Zek. Zek still sends Quark away, however, and shows some interest in Pel.

In response, Pel politely leaves the game.

“Such loyalty must be expensive,” Zek comments to Jadzia.

“You can’t buy that kind of loyalty,” she replies.

Pel cheers Quark up, and he asks why Pel is being so nice to him.

“For twenty percent of your profits. Why else?”

In a sweet moment, Quark nudges Pel. “Fair enough.”

They go back to the table, and Jadzia observes the closeness between them.

The next day, Pel is trying non-Ferengi food, and Jadzia sits down. She brings up Pel’s loyalty to Quark, and trying to change the subject, Pel talks about how much Quark likes Jadzia. Jadzia tells a story about Quark that ends with, “I don’t care what anyone says, I love him.”

“So do I,” Pel sighs.

And this is part of the problem I have with the story.

I don’t like it when characters are inexplicably in love after a short period of time. Udy does a great job in this episode, and I do fully buy Pel is in love with Quark. However, it’s just not realistic for a character to suddenly appear and be in love with another character. If Pel had been a background character in previous episodes and there’d been a few scenes of her subtly showing an interest in Quark, and then, gone the way of Quark noticing her this episode and them bonding, this would be much easier to believe.

Jadzia asks if Quark knows about Pel’s feelings, and Pel reveals she’s a she.

This surprises Jadzia.

I do like this part. The episode doesn’t make a big deal out of it, but Jadzia was operating under the assumption a man was in love with Quark. She thought it was sweet and was obviously going to try playing matchmaker.

Pel gives the backstory about Ferengi females essentially being slaves, and there’s some bitterness, but it’s mostly her determination to better herself that shines through. She expresses her confusion at finding herself in love while leading a double life.

Sympathetic, Jadzia acknowledges she herself isn’t sure what Pel should do.

Arriving, Quark fetches Pel for the negotiations.

In the promenade, Kira returns the present to Zek. After she leaves, Quark and Pel appear with the news the species has left the station without signing the contract. Zek isn’t pleased, but Pel quickly declares they’re (her and Quark) going to the Gamma Quadrant to get the contract signed. Also, they’ll be using Zek’s ship to do so.

The body language in this scene is simply wonderful. Pel is fearless, and she’s protective of Quark. She eventually puts herself in between him and Zek. She gives no indication she’s going to physically attack Zek, but there is a clear air of it being a bad idea for him to challenge her. When Zek agrees to loan his ship, Quark literally pulls Pel away as he’s thanking Zek. Part of it is using her as a shield, and part of it is of a friend pulling a more impulsive, fearless friend away.

In the ship, Quark and Pel discuss Zek. They agree he knows more than he’s letting on it, but they can’t figure out what.

Quark notes, “So far, the only thing I’ve done right is pick you as my consultant.”

This is enough to get Pel to try to confess her feelings and, potentially, her femaleness. However, Quark is uncomfortable with her adoring look and possibly his own attraction to his (supposedly) male co-worker. Choosing to misread where she’s going, he declares he isn’t going to give her a larger share of the profits.

Meanwhile, at Quark’s, Odo talks to a disgruntled Rom. He agrees, if he had a brother, even one as worthless as Quark, he wouldn’t let anyone come between them.

Thus, the security officer of the station unknowingly encourages B&E.

Rom tears Pel’s quarters apart, and eventually, he finds the synthetic earlobes.

Over at the species’ planet, Quark is an annoying twerp. He doesn’t get the deal closed, but he doesn’t manage to get himself killed, either.

Later, he and Pel are given a room with one bed, and she has a freak-out. She suggests they sleep on the ship, claims the mattress looks lumpy, and then, freaks out more when Quark starts to undress. During this, an exhausted Quark simply assures her he doesn’t snore, the mattress is lump-free and comfortable, and asks which side she wants.

Instead of just letting Quark go to sleep, leaving a note, and going up to the ship herself, Pel insists they have a toast. They do, and Quark is made even more uncomfortable by the obvious adoration is Pel is silently directing towards him.

It’s worth noting, however, Quark doesn’t come across as homophobic. He doesn’t want to acknowledge Pel’s obvious feelings towards him, and he might be internally struggling with his own feelings towards Pel, but he treats Pel exactly how he treats everyone else.

Finally, Pel can’t take it anymore. She kisses him. Then, she climbs on top of him, and as he’s trying to express his disinterest, one of their female hosts comes in. Said host quickly leaves, and Quark chases her down. She tells them they literally can’t sell as much product as Zek wants, but she can put them in contact with the Dominion.

This is the series’ first mention of the Dominion.

Later, on the ship, Pel tries to talk to Quark about the kiss, and he hurriedly insists there was no kiss.

I once read an analysis about how Quark’s attitude here comes across as somewhat inconsistent. Humans are undeniably capable of being misogynist while utterly condemning same-sex pairings, but it’s unlikely the Ferengi would share this quality. If anything, their contempt and disregard for their females would make them more likely to seek out deeper relationships with other males.

Going by this, Quark’s reaction likely would have been somewhere along the lines of assuming Pel was trying to get a raise/greater percent of the profits.

Actually, it would have been an interesting facet to his character if Quark, who’s been shown to use gifts and more dubious methods of trying to gain sex/relationships, considered this to be a line. If say, he was attracted to Pel and would have been happy if Pel had expressed interest under different circumstances, but here, he’s under the impression Pel is simply attempting to use sex, and either for ethical reasons or simply his own emotional well-being, Quark feels he must refuse.

Back at the station, Zek and Quark talk about the Dominion. Zek has little information on them but believes them to be important.

Rom drags Quark away, and the audience doesn’t hear what he and Pel say to him, but Quark ends up fainting.

In the infirmary, Quark asks Bashir to let him rest, and once Bashir has left, Rom insists Zek needs to be told about Pel in order to punish her.

Insisting he has no feelings for Pel, Quark says Zek can’t be told, lest he lose all trust in Quark. He tells Rom, once he (Quark) gets profit from the Gamma Quadrant deal, he’ll give Rom the bar with the condition Rom doesn’t tell anyone about Pel.

Later, Quark goes to Pel’s quarters, and she’s no longer disguised as a male.

Declaring she has to leave as soon as possible, he gives her ten bars of latinum. She insists she loves him, and his response might come across as him being cruel due to his tone and body language, but he’s actually being kind and reasonable. He points out she’d never be happy as a Ferengi wife. With Rom knowing her secret, it’s not safe for her to stay, and though he opts to claim he’d be bothered by her Ferengi unfemininity, the truth is he’s made a life on the station and isn’t willing to leave his friends and family.

This is a kindness to her. He’s casting himself as the jerk who’s unwilling to accept her rather than letting her see his feelings for her have caused him to have to make an incredibly hard, painful decision.

Later, Quark, Rom, and Zek are eating when Pel appears. She awesomely reveals herself to be female, and Zek’s reaction is hilarious given that a female will eventually become his top financial advisor and convince him to go on a crusade for gender equality.

Zek plans to throw her in prison, but Quark uses the law against him by pointing out Zek will suffer consequences, too, if it gets out a female represented him in business. Zek agrees to keep Pel’s secret, but to punish Quark, he takes away his share of the Gamma Quadrant profits.

After everyone leaves, Quark and Pel share a sweet moment and a steamy kiss. She leaves, and he smiles to himself.

Going to find Jadzia, he invites her to a game of tonga, and when she brings up the fact they’re both going to miss Pel, he tries to redirect by flirting with her. Declaring she knows him better, she leaves.

Either she’s annoyed with him for not giving the relationship a chance, despite the good points he correctly laid out earlier, or she thought he needed some alone time rather than a distraction. Personally, I think the ending would have worked better if they’d been talking, he’d gotten momentarily pensive, and then, continued happily talking to her.

Fin.


End file.
